How important is the published power rating?

[anchorhold]

I am looking to get a 4x12 from avatar soon and I wanted to load it with 4 of the Eminence alnico 122’s. They were described as good for blues & “chime-y”, I like the sound of that. However 4 of them together equals 140 watts of power handling and my amp outputs 200 watts.

Different people have told me different thing in regards to whether or not this combination would work. Dave at avatar said it’s no big deal, people use amps rated as more powerful all the time. One of the application support techs at Eminence told me not to do it because there’s a “very good chance” I’d blow the speakers.

So, do any of you use amps that are supposed to be more than your speakers can handle (like 60watts more)? Even had any problems?

Also, if I don’t go with the 122’s I was thinking about getting a cab loaded with those Celestion G12H80’s. Does anyone have any experience with those (positive or negative)? Thanks.

[jps]

For bass I like a lot more power from my amp than the speaker's rating. However, for guitar that may not hold because of distortion generally being applied for guitar as opposed to bass, for the most part, anyway.